Wild Fire
by Wandering Dawn
Summary: When the past comes knocking, can Lily stay hidden behind her dragons? "Uncle Charlie, did you ever find it hard? Being in love with someone you know you shouldn't be - can't be in love with? How do you stop loving someone you know could destroy you?"
1. Chapter 1

_AN;_ _so this is a sequel of sorts to Acceptance, though you don't need to have read that first, i would love it if you read it too :) you'll understand the references to his lycanthropy and her birthday gift more if you read that. _I hope you enjoy 3

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><p>The roar in the distance, the earth shaking thump that followed, then followed by many more, always following the same pattern. Roar, thump, roar, thump. It was the sound that awoke her every night these days. Not because she was scared, on the contrary, she was excited. It could only mean one thing. Hatchlings. Tiny little baby dragons that the mother was protecting from other dragons as the shell cracked and split, tiny claws and tails emerging before, finally a head broke the shell completely and the new babies breathed their first puff of fire, or cried their first roar, trying to get their mothers attention. Yes, the sight really was something amazing to be observed. What came after it, was not so wonderful as the rest of the recruits on the reserve had to try pry the hatchlings away from the mother to do routine checks. One of which had only just been clubbed by a Hungarian horntail in the shoulder the day before, trying to do just that. Lily smiled thinking about how amazing dragons were. The miracle of birth happening right there in her own back yard. It reminded her of when she was younger and her god-brother Teddy Lupin had taken her to the tree house to show her a bird's nest that had resided there. The mother was out finding food whilst the two of them had watched one of the chicks hatch and start chirping almost immediately. The truly magical experience never truly left her, and here she was once again, dealing with much bigger, much more dangerous hatchlings.<p>

Throwing off the covers and donning her flame-proof work wear she met her uncle Charlie out in the hall with a wide grin on her face. "The Chinese fire-ball?" Charlie nodded, looking just as excited as she was, the lines in his face becoming more pronounced as he smiled, but making him look ten years younger in spite of them. They rushed out the tiny house running towards the sanctuary at full speed, their smiles never faltering, even as they slowed when in seeing distance of the mother. "What should I do?" she whispered to her uncle, unsure of how to handle the sudden pressures. She had only observed before, but this time, she was going to be working hands on.

"Go towards the hatchlings and take them to the ranch as quickly as possible, I'll distract the mother. Don't forget to feed them! Josh will be there to help you out." Lily nodded, waiting for Charlie's signal before making the move, gathering the three babies together and leading them away with a piece of fresh meat she had summoned, running away, them chasing her, stumbling around a bit. She giggled with glee at her success, until one of the hatchlings caught up with her and tackled her to the ground, effectively maiming her arm. She pushed them away, levitating the piece of meat towards the ranch where the rest of the crew would check them over. She stood up, inspecting her arm. It was dripping with blood from a deep gash across her shoulder. She sighed knowing she couldn't see the wound to heal it so continued the small journey to the ranch.

Upon seeing her, Josh, her co-worker, ran over immediately, worry lacing his handsome features. "Oh gosh, Lils, what happened? I was just about to come find you when you didn't come back with the babies."

Lily shook her head as if it was nothing, secretly enjoying the attentions of Josh. "It's nothing, really. I just took my eye off them for a second and all of a sudden one of them was on me, after the meat in my hand. It was a stupid mistake. I know how the babies can get. I mean, look at Adam from his run in with the horntail." Josh chuckled softly with Lily instructing her to turn around so he could take a look at the wound. "How bad is it?" she asked when she heard him gasp.

He gulped softly. "Erm, it's not... bad per say. Just deep. But that isn't what I'm surprised at. When did you get a tattoo of a dragon on your back?"

Lily blushed a little. "I got it when I was seventeen, after I had spent my summer here with uncle Charlie. Sorry, I usually put a glamour charm on it. I know that you're not supposed to have them here. I just... couldn't resist." She whirled around on him, her face pleading. "Please don't tell Charlie. He'll kill me and I'd be out of here faster than you could say Hungarian horntail!"

Josh chuckled softly. "Lils, relax. I won't tell Charlie and besides, he loves you too much to fire you and send you packing for a tattoo. Just tell him you got it at Hogwarts. He'll understand. I do believe he has one on his shoulder with Adam's name and birth date on it. You know how happy he was when he found out about Adam. He can't penalise you for getting something that means so much to you when he has his son's name tattooed on his back." Lily smiled nodding with positive glee about the revelation of her uncle's discrepancy that he had so many times lectured her on.

"Hypocrite," she muttered softly with a smile. Josh returned her smile before turning her back around and inspecting the cut again.

"Hm, you may have to go to the first aid station. I don't know if I should be healing this without cleaning it with solution and whatnot. You're better off seeing the matron." Lily groaned. Chuckling, Josh took her hand and pulled her towards the first aid station. "I know how much you hate it Lils, but you gotta go when you get yourself maimed by a Chinese Fireball baby."

Lily looked down at their entwined hands, feeling slight butterflies erupt in her stomach. She hadn't found anyone she liked since her Hogwarts years... five years ago. Well... except one. But he had betrayed her. Let her down. Cheated. He didn't count as far as she was concerned. At twenty two all she wanted to do was hang around at the sanctuary with the dragons. She never thought that she'd be feeling butterflies with one of her co-workers. What was the saying? Don't dip your pen in the company ink? Josh was watching her closely as a small smile came to her lips when she was staring at their intertwined hands. He shrugged it off, putting it down to blood loss. She would never be interested in him. She was Lily Fucking Potter. She only had one love in her heart. Dragons. It would always be about the dragons. He loved the way her face would light up when she saw a baby or when she got to ride one of them. Even when she needed to help with an injured one. Her face would light up with happiness. The happiness of being needed, of being wanted. Of being around dragons.

How could he ever compare with that?

Of course, he couldn't, he decided as they got to the first aid building. Giving her a softly kiss on her head he sighed. "Go get yourself cleaned up missy, then straight back to bed. Those hatchlings will still be there in the morning." He smiled, masking his feelings for her by pushing her lightly towards the building.

Once a nurse caught sight of her, Lily was immediately pushed face down onto a bed, the matron muttering something about them not making her job easy and how she was lucky she wasn't burnt. Lily giggled softly as she continued to mutter to herself. She poured cleaning solution onto a cloth, pressing it harshly into Lily's wound, making her scream and curse at the woman. "My my, what a sailors mouth you have. That isn't any way for a lady to talk is it?" Lily rolled her eyes, ignoring the comment from the incredibly up-tight traditional woman, whose main belief is that dragons were for men, women should either be nurses or housewives. Lily, obviously thought it ridiculous but the woman constantly made her views known to the young girl whenever she was there with a burn or a scratch. After healing it and dressing it the matron gave her to go ahead to go back home. "Be careful about keeping it clean, and you'll have another nasty scar for you to wear oh-so-proudly on your should be beautiful skin." Again, Lily ignored her walking out and making her way back home, collapsing face down on her soft, warm bed.

It was noon again before she was awoken by Charlie. "Lils, your dad has owled me again," he sighed rolling his eyes. "I really wish you would answer his letters, Lil. He's worried about you."

Lily sighed sitting up in her bed, grimacing at the slight pain in her shoulder. "Look, Uncle Charlie, I appreciate that he wants to talk to me or see me or whatever. But I'm not ready to go home. I'm not ready to leave this place. I love it too much here for them to try to convince me to stay home with them from now on. Please, don't make me go back, Charlie. Please."

Charlie shook his head in slight disappointment. "You can't avoid them forever, Lils. They just want you to go home for your birthday. They want to throw you a Potter-Weasley party like you used to love. Is that so bad?"

"Honestly? Yes, it is. I'm not twelve anymore, Charlie. I'm almost twenty three. I just, I need space from my family. I'm finally finding my place in the world and they can't stand that!" She stood up and walked over to her wardrobe. "If you don't mind, I'm going to change and then go down and get something to eat before I go back up there to see the hatchlings okay?" Charlie sighed, nodding before exiting her room. One of these days, he swore he was going to get through to the girl that they didn't want her to stay somewhere she wasn't happy. They just wanted to see her, if only for a few hours.

As expected, Harry was still waiting for him when he got downstairs, his head floating in the emerald green flames. "So?" he prompted, looking hopeful. Charlie sighed shaking his head, causing a disheartened expression to cross Harry's face. "I just want to talk to her Charlie, will you please bring her down for me?" A pleading expression crossed his face. "Please." Charlie nodded shouting his niece.

"What now?" she said running down the stairs. "Charlie I really wanna go see the hatchlings! I should at least get to see the one who tried to claw me to death for a bit of meat!" Charlie shot a worried look at Harry as she mentioned her previous run in with the Chinese Fireball.

"Just come here please," he said, knowing that she would run away if she knew her father was waiting for her.

"What do- Oh, hey dad," she said turning around to go back out.

"Lily Luna Potter come here and talk to your father right now!" Charlie demanded. Rolling her eyes she turned around again, crossing her arms, taking a protective stance. "I will go see the hatchlings and I will expect not to see you for at least thirty minutes. You can see them when you have had a much needed talk with him."

Lily's eyes flashed daggers. "You can't tell me what to do!" Charlie raised an eyebrow giving her a look that said 'try me' before turning around and locking her in the house, jogging off to tend to the newborns. Lily glared at the door for a few moments before sighing and turning to face her father. "Let me guess, you want me to come home, you don't want me in Romania anymore and it's about time I grew up and stopped chasing after dragons, taking a lovely boring Job over at the ministry, following in your footsteps just like James and Al and Teddy."

Harry gaped at his daughter, feeling hurt that she'd think that's the only reason he would floo her from half way across the world. "No, Lily, not at all. I was actually just going to ask you if we could see you on your birthday? Everyone here misses you so so much and even though we're proud of you for taking a hold of your life the way you have, we'd like to see you once in a while." Lily looked down not saying anything, feeling guilt bubble up in her stomach. "Look, Lils, I know that you tried a few different things out before going back to Charlie and the dragons, and I want to tell you how proud of you I am that you've found something you love so much that you're willing to fight for it the way you feel you have to. Which you don't by the way, your mother and I are proud of you no matter what. Please, Lil, we just want you home on your birthday. Even Teddy is begging me to get him an international floo licence so that he can see you."

Biting her lip, Lily looked up. "Promise me you won't try to convince me to stay home with you?"

Harry nodded quickly. "I promise, Lil, we just miss you, it's been two years already. I want to see my little girl, all grown up. Which, by the way, when did you dye your hair that colour?" he said eyeing up her inky blue locks.

Rolling her eyes Lily smiled fondly at her father. "Bye dad, I promise I'll come home. Just let me know when."

"You could come now?" he said biting his lip. Lily looked longingly at the door leading to where the hatchlings were. "How about later today? Your birthday is in two days, Lil. And I'm sure everyone would be ecstatic to see you."

Lily nodded slowly. "I'll be over tonight. Just... let me go see the baby dragons? I have a score to settle," she giggled pointing at her shoulder. "Little bugger dug his claws right in."

Harry chuckled. "Okay, Lil. I'll be waiting!" Lily nodded before running off to the door, finding it finally unlocked and taking off down the driveway. Harry pulled his head out of the fireplace beaming to his family. "She's coming tonight," he said to a round of cheers. The brightest smile in the room came from his godson, Teddy Lupin, whom Harry knew was incredibly close with his daughter when they were younger.

Walking back from the barn at nine o 'clock that night, hand in hand with Josh, Lily had the biggest smile on her face. He listened to her with an amused smile as she excitedly rambled on about how much she loved the dragons. Chuckling he pulled her into the house and up to her bedroom to help her pack for her weekend at home. "Oh they're just so cute! I wish I could take one home with me!"

"Lil, you're leaving for a couple of days. The dragons will still be here when you get back." He pulled her close into him, their faces mere inches apart. Lily nodded, watching his face closely. She stood up on her tiptoes as he slowly leaned in, their lips slowly closing the gap between them.

"Oh he- Woah! I'm so sorry!" Charlie said as he walked in on them, just seconds before their lips met. He turned around rubbing the back of his neck. "Lil, your dad's downstairs, ready to take you home." Lily sighed, grabbing her stuff and throwing it in her old school trunk quickly, then levitating it downstairs, not looking back at a crestfallen Josh who stared after her with longing in his eyes.

[x]

Soft pattering rain fell upon her window as she sat on the bench just below the ledge. She liked watching the rain. Droplets fell down, joining with one another in a random pattern, making them unpredictable, just like she loved being. Lily prided herself on being unpredictable and random, it was one of those Slytherin traits that she had enjoyed gaining. Unpredictability. No one expected her to be a Slytherin, no one expected her to throw in her job as potions brewer, not that anyone really expected her to be good at potions. No one had ever thought she would run away to Romania and they definitely didn't think that dragons were amongst her favourite things to watch. Everyone had expected her to be the little goodie two shoes just like her brothers, following in daddy's footsteps. Yes, unpredictability was her favourite trait because it proved she was different.

"Y'know, I liked your hair better before. It was much less... emo." Lily jumped, her heart racing as she turned towards the man standing in her doorway, his hair an amused shade of blue. Grinning like an idiot he moved into the room as she jumped up and ran towards him. He wrapped his arms around her, holding her close. "It's good to see you too, Lil," he mused chuckling. "I missed you these past couple of years."

Holding him close to her Lily began to cry softly into his shoulder. He was the only person she truly missed when she left. "Oh, Teddy. I missed you so much!" She pulled back with a smile looking over his features as they both fell grim, feeling the weight of all their history fall onto their shoulders. Lily wiped her eyes and sat back down on her window bench. "So uhm... how's Victoire?"

"I wouldn't know... we haven't spoken since the night you left." Teddy stared her directly in the eyes. "I never kissed her you know. She kissed me. She said she still loved me. She was just drunk." Lily looked down, unable to keep his eye contact. She had hoped they could avoid the issue of why she had left in the first place. He walked over to her and held her hands in his, kneeling at her feet. "Lily, you know I only loved you. That night that you came into the shed was the greatest of my life. You were so helpful, so supportive. You didn't care that I could have potentially tried to rip your throat out again, you just cared that I was in pain. You wanted to help me. No one has ever done that before. No one." Lily blanched when she remembered the night before her eighteenth birthday, before deciding to change the subject.

"So uhm, are you getting any closer to full transformations yet?"

Teddy sighed. "It's getting more painful. I am now totally covered in fur and I get a snout, but my brain is still all human. It scares the hell out of me."

"I'm sorry I never found a cure..." Teddy shook his head.

"I don't blame you. It was Victoire's and my fault. I didn't run after you. I didn't try to stop you. I didn't try to explain. I just... I don't know. I'm so sorry, Lily. I really am so sor-" she cut him off by pressing a kiss to his lips, unable to deny the want she felt for him any longer. Victoire no longer mattered. Dragons no longer mattered. All that mattered was Teddy. Her hands found her way into his hair as she slid off the bench and into his lap. With a quick wave of her hand the door closed shut and a little click informed her of the lock turning. Teddy smiled into the kiss pulling her closer to him, leaning backwards until he reached the floor, her directly above him.

[X]

Hours later the two of them laid down on Lily's bed, curled up together tightly, her head on his chest, his arm around her shoulders, playing with her hair softly. "So does this mean I'm forgiven?" he whispered, the smile on his face only getting wider as he stared down at her. Nodding her head with a smile she began to trace patterns on his bare chest, her fingers dancing across the flesh in random lines. He mirrored her line tracing but instead of making it random he traced the scars that now littered her skin, so different from the last time she saw her. Burns, cuts, scars all marring her beautiful milky white skin. "So what happens now?" he asked, a slight fear of loss lacing his voice.

Lily sighed finally turning her head to look into his eyes. "Now we move on."

Teddy sat up quickly, looking down at her, hurt evident in his eyes. "What do you mean move on? I – I thought-"

"Thought what, Ted?" she asked sitting up, hurt and anger swirling around in her dark brown orbs. "That we'd just go back to how we were just because we had sex? It doesn't work like that, Teddy. I have a job, a life, something completely separate from this. Completely separate from this life that I didn't even want to come back to. Yes, what we did was nice and I believe you when you say what happened wasn't your fault but I've changed, Teddy. Our situation, everything has changed."

"So that's it then?" he asked, a coldness creeping into his voice. "Even though I just told you I love you, even though I'm willing to do anything to get you back, you're just going to leave again after this weekend and forget? Never come back? Do I even have a chance at all?"

Lily looked away from his piercing glare. "Things change, Ted. People change."

"Fine." He scrambled out of bed, picking up his clothes angrily and putting them back on in a haste before walking out of the door and slamming it shut, retreating to his own room in the attic. Lily flinched as the door slammed shut but she knew she had done the right thing. Dragon Keepers just weren't supposed to have relationships. They weren't supposed to get married and have kids and everything else that Teddy wanted out of life. And then there was Teddy himself. His transformations were getting worse, his body was unable to cope with the slow progress of the lycanthropy gene. He wouldn't ever be able to have children because he couldn't risk the gene being passed on to his own child.

Besides, there was still Josh. She knew she was beginning to have feelings for him, and he was the perfect person for it, really. He was a dragon keeper, he knew what she had to go through, how tiring it was for her and it was clear that he had feelings for her too. But... could she honestly see herself spending the rest of her life with him? Teddy, she knew right from the beginning how happy they could be, how happy they were until Victoire got her claws back into him. But she can't just uproot her whole life for him. She had a commitment, a job, a good happy life. She needed to go back to it. Surely Teddy knew that?

[X]

For the next two days, Lily went through the motions, speaking when spoken to, keeping her happy mask in place even though her mind and heart were raging war inside her body, confusing her to no end. But, at least, she thought, she would be leaving in the morning back to her safe and happy life in Romania. One without confusion where she could forget about everything but her job. It wasn't until Sunday night after everyone had gone home did she allow herself to truly think about the repercussions of going back. Would Teddy ever forgive her if she didn't say goodbye to him? If she left without a word for the second time?

She was just about to get up and go into Teddy's room when there was a soft knock at her door. She opened it to find the exact person who she had just intended to see. She smiled shyly, hoping that he wasn't here to try and convince her to stay again. "Can I come in?" he asked softly, his voice holding slight tremors. Frowning Lily nodded opening the door, instantly becoming worried about him.

"Are you okay, Ted?" she asked softly, watching his whole body shake lightly, as though he were a little jittery.

Teddy shook his head pointing out the window at the moon. Lily understood then, tomorrow was the full moon. "I er, I just wanted to give you your birthday present since you weren't really there downstairs and I thought you'd appreciate this." Lily nodded slightly with a smile instantly becoming nervous. The last time he had given her a gift away from her parents it had been an expensive charm bracelet that had made her realise she had fallen in love with him. With trembling fingers she reached out and took the offered box. It was much smaller this year and much more squared. Inside she found a tiny little silver dragon hanging from a clip. "It's for your bracelet," he said to clarify. Lily nodded staring at it in wonder, watching as it moved it's head around in the box.

"It's perfect," she whispered softly. "Thankyou."

"Lily... is there any way we could make this work?"

"Ted, you know that my job is my entire life, it's a twenty four seven job. Please don't make this any harder than it is..."

"Then can we at least have a proper goodbye?" She nodded placing her gift down on the bedside table before wrapping her arms around Teddy's neck, standing on her tiptoes and kissing him softly. Hs arms wrapped around her waist pulling her further into his body before back her towards her bed. "I'm going to make sure you never forget this night... I want you to remember just how much I love you, Lily. That's never going to change, I promise you that."

Lily stared up at him, sadness in her eyes. "You know I'll never stop loving you, Teddy. But after tonight, we have to move on. You have to move on."

"What if I don't want to move on?"

"Then we can't do this." Teddy sighed nodding his head, leaning down to kiss her again softly before slowly lowering them down to the bed.

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><p><em>AN; so i decided to cut it off there, and continue in a new chapter since it seemed to be dragging on a little in this section of the story. So look out for a new chapter :) <em>

Reviews are love guys :3 - please no faves without reviewing!


	2. Chapter 2

Charlie Weasley was a genuinely perceptive person when it came down to it. He could easily tell one's emotions just by watching their body language or general demeanour, something which, he thought, the rest of his family lacked. That is why, when Lily Potter stepped out of the fireplace at their home on the dragon reserve he could instantly tell that something had happened whilst she had been at home. That bubbly happy enthusiastic girl from before she had left had been replaced with a depressed shell, despite her attempts to hide it. But she could never hide it from Charlie, he knew her too well. He also knew that she would heal in time, just like she had last time she had come to him looking like this begging to let her stay.

Quickly banishing her bags upstairs Lily quickly made for the door. Charlie knew exactly where she was going. She was going to the hatchling pen, knowing that there would be a new set in there for her to watch play around with each other whilst the others did their routine checks on them. Lily, he knew, only ever felt safe with the dragons, which was ironic considering they could easily harm her or, worse, kill her. But then again, she had dated a werewolf. Danger just didn't ever seem to be in Lily's vocabulary.

After making her way towards the dragon pen Lily sat down in the far corner, her legs curled to her chest, her arms around her legs as she stared off into space, thinking only of what had taken place last night and how much she already missed being around the illusive Teddy Lupin. She was angry at herself that she had let him get to her like that. That wasn't ever supposed to happen. she had hoped he would leave her alone and be angry at her for leaving. He was, after all, angry at Victoire for leaving him. But, she supposed, that her leaving was entirely his fault and that being angry wasn't usually Teddy's style. Bitter and hurt, yes, but never angry.

She felt a presence sit beside her but she daren't look towards to body that accompanied it. She had an inkling of who it was, but she wouldn't dare look. She didn't feel as though she could face the pain right now. Of course, karma was never that nice to her. "Lil? Are you okay?"

Feeling tears come to her eyes Lily shook her head and turned away from the voice, not wanting Josh to see her so weak and unhinged by, what should have been considered for all intents and purposes, a one night stand. She felt an arm snake around her shoulders and a small pull before she fell against his hard muscled chest, her tears finally breaking through the walls she had tried so hard to put back in place. Sighing he ran his hand through her hair kissing the top of it every now and then before she finally sobered up enough to calm down and pull away from him. But he held her shoulders tightly, keeping her close to his chest. "Do you wanna tell me what happened now?" she shook her head, unwilling to look up at him in fear of losing it again. She didn't want to tell him why she was so upset because she knew it would upset him to learn that she was still so in love with her ex-boyfriend that she was unable to function properly at that moment in time. Besides, she didn't want to do anything stupid either like ask him to sleep with her to get Teddy out of her mind. Because that would be selfish, and Lily didn't want to be selfish anymore. She only ever hurt the people around her when she was selfish.

Josh just nodded in acceptance figuring she would speak when she was ready. After adjusting her so she was sat across his lap and her head on his shoulder he wrapped both arms around her, stroking her hair and allowing her to be comforted, at least a little bit by stroking her long black hair. "You know, you could use a glamour charm on your hair, your roots are showing through," he said with a small chuckle.

Lily smiled slightly at his attempt at their usual playful banter. "At least I'm not going grey."

"Hey, I am not going grey, I'm 23... Besides, I checked this morning." Lily chuckled softly already feeling a little better at being in the presence of a friend. "Lily?" Feeling the immediate change in his voice Lily answered cautiously with a soft hum. "Before you left... in your room..." Lily cut him off almost instantly knowing exactly where his thoughts were drifting to.

"I'm sorry, Josh. But... It was nothing. Nothing happened and now, nothing will happen." Josh stared into her eyes feeling instantly saddened by what she was saying but nodded all the same. It was clear that something had happened at home that she changed her mind about him. After all, they had been flirting for months leading up to that almost kiss.

"You know I'm here if you ever need me, right? For whatever reason? I don't mind. It won't change anything between us if you don't want it to."

Lily nodded her head slowly, acknowledging the offer but not accepting it. Josh sighed but kept a hold of his friend, knowing she needed the comfort more than anything at that particular moment. Eventually he felt her breathing even out and picked her up into his muscled arms gently, taking her back to the house and up to her room after Charlie had let him in. He placed her down on her bed, pulling off her boots and tucking her into the covers before leaving, shutting the door softly on his way out.

"Did she tell you what was wrong?" Charlie asked quietly, barely above a whisper, shooting a worried glance towards the door of his niece's room.

Josh shook his head sadly. "I don't know what has happened whilst she was away, Charlie, but she seems incredibly shaken up... Almost like a whole different person."

Charlie nodded again, beginning to gather an idea of what, or rather who, happened over the weekend. "Thanks for bringing her back, Josh. You should probably get back to your own house before Adam starts having a panic attack. You know how protective he is about his housemates." Nodding again Josh left with a quick goodbye.

[X]

Charlie had walked into his niece's room with the intention of getting information out of her. After Josh had brought her back to him a few days ago she had gone into what Charlie considered an almost comatose state. She would barely eat unless forced to, she had not gotten out of bed once until he had dragged her out and even then she usually looked around hopelessly unsure of what to do with herself. She hadn't spoken once. Not to him. Not to Josh. Not to Adam or any other of her co-workers and it had to stop before her unresponsiveness got her killed by a dragon.

Lily was sat upon her window ledge looking outside watching the rain that had started up an hour ago with a faraway look on her face. Charlie approached her slowly and took a seat beside her upon the ledge. "Lily?" he asked quietly. No response. "Lily?" he said again a little louder. Still no response. He sighed before resting a hand upon her knee softly. "Lily you need to work through this, please, let me or Josh or any of us help you. This isn't healthy Lily. I don't want to have to pull you off duty but you know as well as I do that if you keep going on like this I'm going to have to. Please, Lil, talk to me."

Lily's eye promptly filled with tears at the thought of losing contact with her dragons, the last thing she felt could help heal her heart. She took a deep breath, in and out before squeezing her eyes shut and letting out what was bothering her. "Uncle Charlie, did you ever find it hard? Being in love with someone you know you shouldn't be - can't be in love with? How do you stop loving someone you know could destroy you?"

Charlie eyed her for a moment, attempting to figure her out before shaking his head softly. "I assume you mean Adam's mum? Anya, she – well, she was the most beautiful girl I had ever set eyes on. I knew that dragon keeps weren't really allowed to have girlfriends or wives so we kept it a secret. We still dated, we still had each other and we were there for one another in a heartbeat if we needed the other to be. I never gave anything up until Adam came along and she died during birth. I know that she literally had my heart and it scared me so much to think I could have feelings that strong for someone but I also knew that if I let it go things wouldn't ever be the same for me. Of course we shouldn't have been in love but we were, you can't change fate, only embrace it."

Lily looked down at her lap, finally taking her eyes away from the window to let a few tears fall. Clearly it wasn't what she had wanted to hear. Charlie sighed before beckoning her to him. Lily crawled over and allowed the older man to hold her tightly against his chest and stroke her hair. Charlie often felt like a second father to Lily, especially after she had abandoned her own family so quickly and he knew that at this moment in time she needed that fatherly instinct more than anything.

"Is this to do with a certain lycanthropic metamorphmagus?" he asked softly, still stroking through her dyed black locks. Slowly and hesitantly she nodded. Charlie sighed softly. "You forgave him and now you can't stop thinking about him because you told him getting back together would be impossible because of your job, am I right?" Lily nodded once again with tears slipping out of her eyes. "And now you feel guilty because Josh is still waiting around for you too and you don't know what to do." Lily looked up at him with an expression between confusion and awe. Charlie laughed softly. "Age gives me experience, Lil. All wisdom and whatnot," he said with a dazzling smile attached.

"What do I do, Uncle Charlie?" she whispered brokenly.

"You take some time off work and you heal. Just let things run their course. You are stronger than this, Lil. I know you are."

"Thankyou," whispered softly. Charlie nodded before kissing her head and moving her so he could stand up.

"I have some things to do down on the reserve, are you going to be okay here?" he asked watching her for a few moments. She nodded and smiled reassuringly at him. "I'll come check on you later tonight, Okay?" Again she nodded and he left her alone to her thoughts.

[X]

Lily stared at the bracelet on her wrist some days later, fingering the small wolf charm that had been there when Teddy first gave it to her. She wished more than anything to see him again. It was almost like she had opened the wound by returning home and now she found it impossible to re-close it. She remembered the feeling of his soft lips against hers, his hands on her skin, his finger tracing her scars softly and lovingly. She shivered softly remembering the night she had returned home. Like rubbing salt in an already opened wound she felt the sting of loneliness and rejection deep within her heart. She couldn't blame him of course, she was the one who had said she didn't want to see him again, but she had half expected him to come running after her, begging her to let him stay. Begging Charlie to bend the rules for them.

Of course, it hadn't happened. And now she couldn't stop her heart breaking a little more every day.

She had tried to pull herself together so she could go back to the dragons, but Charlie was insistent that she wait until she was feeling better. It was clear to the both of them that better was a long way off just yet. As Charlie watched his niece deteriorate he knew something had to be done and decided it was time to intervene with the situation. After all, what was the fun in being the boss if he couldn't bend the rules to get his best worker back on guard?

[x]

"Lily?" Charlie said quietly as he came into her room the next morning with some toast and orange juice. Usually they would eat something much warmer and comforting in order to survive the conditions outside this time of year as it was still incredibly chilly, but this was her comfort breakfast. Charlie knew she'd need all the comfort she could get. "I brought breakfast, sweetie." Lily took a quick look at the plate before turning her head to stare at the window. Charlie sighed, she was even worse that morning than she was the previous one. Leaving the plate on the bedside table he walked out, just as someone else walked in.

The tall brunette that currently adorned her doorway sighed quietly before laying down beside her on the bed and wrapping his arms around her from behind. "Well, at least your hair matches your personality now, word on the street is you've turned emo."

In a hollow voice she replied, "I think the second goodbye just broke me. I'm not sure I can handle a third one."

Teddy sighed shaking his head. "What if I told you there would be no third goodbye?"

Lily turned her body to face him, staring up at him in confusion. "Teddy, you know the situation. Why did you come here? To make things worse?"

"Actually your uncle called me to tell me just how miserable you were. He also offered me a place to stay here, with you... if that's what you want of course."

Lily sat up suddenly, looking down at him whilst resting upon one hand. Her black locks fell to the side, tickling Teddy's arm slightly and her mouth hung open in disbelief. "But, it's against the rules. It's not allowed."

"I guess that's the great thing of having your uncle as the boss. He makes exceptions. Please, Lily. I've missed you, and you've clearly missed me." He ran his hand through her hair lovingly before cupping her cheek. "I love you, and I'm sorry for what happened back at the house when we fought, but I can't get you out of my head and merlin, Lil I'm almost 32 and I've been pining after the most beautiful girl who I thought I could never have. And now it turns out that I can and we can both be happy. I'm fed up of being a love sick teenager, I want to be happy with you. I want things to go back to the way we were when we were together because it was amazing. Most of all, I want you to be you again. I don't like this Lily. You're angry at the world, you're depressed and you're pining. That's not the Lily I know and love and I want MY Lily back. The only way to do that is if I moved here. If we were together again."

Lily bit her lip in consideration. She remembered her happiness with him, she remembered the way he felt on top of her, the way he filled her heart up even after so many years of being apart. She remembered the feeling of loss she felt from saying goodbye, the feeling of guilt as she watched his face fall when she left. She remembered him. She missed him. She loved him. She needed him.

A small smiled crept onto her face as she realised this. She needed him like she needed air. He was her soul mate. "Okay."

"Okay?"

"Okay, you can move in," she said with a smile. He returned it with a smile of his own before reaching up and kissing her hard on the mouth. He pulled her closer to him so that her head was resting on his chest and kissed the top of her head.

"I love you."

"I love you too."

Teddy smiled. Who says wild fire can't be tamed?

* * *

><p><strong>I'm sorry for the suddencrappy ending. I was getting tired of writing this and I think it shows towards the end, so I decided to just cut it off there. I just wanted to get it finished. I'm sorry it's so bad. :( **


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